Real Food Media Project Launches Online Film Competition

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Student contest focused on sustainable food and farming open for entries Oct. 10

Calling up-and-coming filmmakers; film, communications and food studies students and anyone hungry for a deeper understanding of the nation’s food system. A new film competition seeking short films about sustainable food and farming the Real Food Media Contest opens for entries today at www.realfoodmedia.org.

The contest invites aspiring filmmakers, or teams of food changemakers alongside communicators, to create a 30-second to four-minute films in one of four styles: documentary, advocacy, experimental, or “wildcard.” Entries must be submitted by 9 p.m. EST on February 3, 2014. A star-studded panel of judges will select the top film and the public can also vote online beginning Wed., February 12. Winners will be announced on March 4, 2014.

Cash prizes will be given to the best 10 films and the audience choice winner, including a $5,000 grand prize and a chance for a screening at the Food and Farm Film Festival in San Francisco in April 2014.

Contest judges include:

· Padma Lakshmi, cookbook author, actress, model and television host

· Michael Pollan, journalist and author, Omnivore’s Dilemma

· Robert Kenner, Academy Award-nominated director, “Food Inc.”

· Eric Schlosser, journalist and author, Fast Food Nation

· Johanna Blakley, managing director, Norman Lear Center, USC

· Byron Hurt, director and producer, “Soul Food Junkies”

· Alice Waters, Chez Panisse and Chez Panisse Foundation

· Keri Putnam, executive director of the Sundance Institute

· The Jamie Oliver Food Foundation (USA)

· Emily Zweber, organic farmer

For documentaries, an entrant can choose among various options, including profiling a local food hero or showcasing an effective sustainable food project. In the advocacy category, entrants can choose to create a persuasive piece focused on several sustainability themes. In the experimental category, entrants can choose to bring to life the concept “the hands that feed us.” Wildcard entrants can shine a light on sustainable food and farming in any manner they choose funny, serious, or artsy. For more information on each of the categories, visit www.realfoodmedia.org.